"Julian May - Trillium 1 - Black Trillium" - читать интересную книгу автора (May Julian)

conceive after ten years of marriage. The frivolous Princess Narice, his third wife,
suffered the penalty for high treason after attempting to run away with an equerry.
She and her paramour were tumbled together in a large sack of thorn-fleece, and
then burnt alive.

file:///G|/Program%20Files/eMule/Incoming/Julia...%20-%20Trillium%201%20-%20Black%20Trillium.html (5 of 442) [10/18/2004 3:45:58 PM]
Trillum 01 - Black Trillium by Bradley, May and Norton (v1.0) (html).html




The sorcerer Orogastus became Voltrik's chief adviser and before long
commanded respect and fear throughout all Labornok. It was he who urged the
Crown Prince to bide his time before taking a fourth bride, and possess his soul in
patience if he wished to see his great ambitions fulfilled.

(Prudently, the magician did not disclose to the impetuous Prince that he would
have to wait another seventeen years for the doddering King Sporikar to die.)

In the meantime, Orogastus established a stronghold high on the northern slope of
the Ohogan Mountains on the flank of Mount Brom, where he set about to perfect
his magical arts. All unusual antique artifacts procured by the Master-Traders of
Labornok from the swamp Oddlings now came directly into his hands, for a vision
had hinted to him that enormous power might be tapped through certain of the
curious devices. Orogastus later took as assistants three sinister individuals who
were known as his Voices. They served as the sorcerer's acolytes and agents, and
were feared very nearly as much as their master.

On the opposite slope of the ice-crowned Ohogan Mountains, in the Ruwendian
foothills where the River Nothar's precipitous descent eased and the watercourse
broadened, lay the home of another occult practitioner. She was the Archimage
Binah, also called the White Lady, who had lived for untold years in the ruins of
Noth, one of the ancient cities of the Vanished Ones. She was little more than a
legend to the human population of Ruwenda, whose common people never saw
her. Yet they persistently invoked her name in times of trouble, and had revered
her as the guardian of their land from time immemorial.

Only the Oddlings and the Ruwendian royalty knew the truth that lay behind the
legend: It was Binah´s benevolent enchantment, not the difficult terrain, the
human fortifications, inclement weather, nor natural disasters, that had kept the
Mazy Mire safe from would-be despoilers. But the weight of years bows down the
wielders of magic even as it does those who do not exercise the powers. During
the reign of Krain III the undetected safeguards Binah had set up around Ruwenda
became increasingly more difficult for her to maintain. And as her faculties
waned, those of the evil Orogastus became stronger and stronger.

There came a time when Queen Kalanthe of Ruwenda was finally brought to
childbed after many years of barrenness, and all was not going well. King Krain

file:///G|/Program%20Files/eMule/Incoming/Julia...%20-%20Trillium%201%20-%20Black%20Trillium.html (6 of 442) [10/18/2004 3:45:58 PM]